So I take it that what I'm asking is impossible then?

The ALC201A, to be more precise, the Realtek/Avance ALC201A is an AC97 2.2 audio codec. It works with the chipset built-in AC97 audio controller and that does not have port 300h/330h MIDI interface at all.

So, yes, the simple answer is you can't get MIDI music from DOS games, regardless if they are played on Win98 or pure DOS. The fact the you still get some sound from DOS games, is because the AC97 driver stacks provide an SB emulation layer for wave-out. No every games work on such emulation as not many people really care. If the games uses other part of SB, such as the OPL2/3 sound generator, then you will be sorry.

You are asking about hardware and DOS games in the Windows game forum.

Sorry about that, I wasn't sure whether to post in the DOS or Windows section, because I'm asking about running DOS games within a Windows 98 environment, and using Windows drivers. That's why I thought posting in the Windows section seemed right.

Old hardware and driver questions should be asked in Marvin. DOS is for DOS games themselves and Windows is for Windows games. If you read the forum descriptions it is pretty clear what goes where. It makes it easier to search when you only have to search the relevant forum rather than having to waded through the entirety of VOGONS. Think of VOGONS as a large valuable database with lots of information. Posting threads in the wrong forum is like misfiling things in a very large file cabinet.

Okay, thanks. I will post my questions in Marvin in future. Annother thing that lured me here was batmreload's thread about SB16 Emulation [url]Any SB Live! users out there using the sb16 emulation?[/url}

Probably shouldn't have followed a Newbie. 😊

Totempole wrote:

After failing to get SB Emulation working with my Sound Blaster live, I decided to give the onboard audio a shot (Avance ALC201A), since it apparently supports SB emulation within Windows.

I gave it a go, and it it does seem to work... partially. I can get sound working, but not Midi. I'm able to select General Midi address 300 or 330 successfully, but both are silent when I try to test them. Is there a way to get some form of Midi working in games like Duke 3D with this chipset? It's a long shot, but I just thought I'd ask anyway.

Thanks.

Are you doing this from within windows, or the pure DOS prompt?
In case of windows: Windows XP has a build in soundblaster emulation, Midi is also mentioned.
In case of the DOS prompt, what emulation driver did you load?

If this is a Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon mobo, I would be happy if there is a basic DOS soundblaster emulation driver available. Some of them may support some sort of Adlib music emulation. MPU-401 midi emulation was normally left out at that time.
Adlib is the same as 'Sound blaster FM' and OPL2, which is almost the same as 'Sound blaster Pro FM' and OPL3.

Note that there are two ways of emulating MPU-401 midi:
- MPU-401 interface+Wavetable in software, requires a sound patch set, such as the AudioPCI and SB-Live! .ECW files.
- Emulate just the MPU-401 interface, and route the midi data to the joystick connector, for attaching an external Midi module. Vortex-2 and YMF-724 cards do this in DOS.

You may be onto something there. I should probably have mentioned this earlier, but when I install the drivers, it loads a driver for MPU-401. You are also able to set the address in my case it's 330 and IRQ which is 5.

The thing is, if I setup sound in a game like Duke 3D, I can select 330, but when I attempt to test the audio, it's silent.

Is there something else I'm supposed to do to get it to work, like load a soundfont? In the list of Midi devices in Windows 98, I have the option for Microsoft GS Wavetable, and then Roland MPU-401. If I select Roland MPU-401, Midi files go silent.

Here's some basic info I found about it, for what it's worth:

SOUND SUBSYSTEM
Audio Codec: ALC 201 CODEC (Analog Devices)
Compatibility: Sound Blaster 16 (Pro) & AC'97 Revision 2.2
Wavetable Function: Software
Connection: Full-Duplex

It indicates Sound Blaster 16 Compatibility and Software Wavetable. I guess I need to find a way to get the software wavetable working right?

Windows 98 then.

So it does indeed seem to support the MPU-401 interface. The question is where that MPU interface routes the midi data to:
-Does it go to the joystick connector, and thats that? An External module, like a roland SC-55 for example, is the thing to test that.
-Or does the driver route the midi data to its software synthesizer, or any other software synthesizer for that matter, which would not require any additional hardware.

You can test the driver's software synthesizer by selecting it as the default windows midi device, then play a midi file with a windows-based media player. Then you know it at least works in windows.

Note that the original "Sound Blaster 16" did not include a wavetable midi synthesizer by default. It came with a FM/OPL3 music chipset onboard. Does that work?
It is kinda interesting that it supports "Sound Blaster 16", since only Sound Blaster Pro 8-bit compatibility was ever legally licenced out.

The mpu-401 routes midi data to the gameport or wavetable header of a soundcard almost always. If the card does indeed have a software synthesizer available in Windows, it should be listed in Windows 98 Multimedia Properties (in the control panel). If you don't have an external module or wavetable header module, then it makes sense you get no music using mpu-401.

It seems like it routes MPU-401 through the Game Port, because if I select it as my default midi output, I don't get any sound from Midi files in Media Player or Dos games. I can't seem to get the software synthesizer working (assuming there actually is one.) There's no FM synthesis whatsoever either, emulated or otherwise. So wavetable synthesis is my only hope here. I just don't know where to look or what to look for to try and get it to work.